thank you for your reply. I had a spinal block so was not intubated. ENT showed no problems with my vocal chords or throat, but I am still coughing, so as my voice is weak I have been referred to to speech therapy. As I have asthma, I wonder if your idea of cough variant might be the answer. Thanks again.
The cough may or may not be related to the "unrelated operation". If you had tracheal intubation at the time, for administration of the anesthetic, your vocal cords or trachea could have been irritated, damaged and then inflamed. It would be most unusual for you to "have damaged my vocal cords", even with harsh coughing. Important to realize that this is not something that you did.
If unrelated, you could have cough variant asthma or could have an infectious cause of cough, such as pertussis, commonly called whooping cough. In any event, examination by the ENT should be the starting point.
Good luck.